Warwickshire v Lancashire
Warwickshire went into their latest premier division fixture in the BDO Inter County Championships at home to second in the table Lancashire on the back of two consecutive wins knowing that a further win would consolidate their fourth position in the table.
Fresh from their 5-1 win at Lincolnshire the ladies ‘B’ team got off to a great start when Nina Bolt opened up with a cracking 3-0 win over Amy Eden, Nina’s 20.04 earning her the team’s match award. Donna Pinch lost the first two legs of her game with Maria Ronson but fought back magnificently to go on and win 3-2 and double Warwickshire’s lead.
Trish Hughes and Sharon Seed put Lancashire back on level terms when they each won 3-0 against respective opponents Denise Keyte and Lisa Deslandes before Marian Conway restored the home side’s advantage when she won 3-1 against Tracey Cunningham to leave the result hinging on the final game between Angela Jones (Warwickshire) and Ann-Marie Swindells
The final score was 4-2 to the home team as Jones eased to a straight 3-0 win over Swindells to make it two consecutive wins for the ‘B’ team.
Dave Bennett (Lancashire) won the first leg of the men’s ‘B’ match against Luke Kennedy but then lost the next three and although he reduced the arrears to 3-2 in the fifth Kennedy wrapped up his 4-2 win in the sixth to put Warwickshire one up.
Second on for Warwickshire was Tom Martin who was unlucky to come up against an in form Chris O’Connor whose 4-0 win and 29.04 average gave him the away teams match award. It turned out to be just a minor setback for the home team as Simon Power won 4-1 against Dave Rawstron and Rob Hawker extended the lead to 3-1 with a 4-0 win over Brian Darbyshire, Rob having winning legs of 15,23,14 and 14 darts which gave him a superb man of the match average of 30.36
Game number five was another 4-0 scoreline but this time in favour of Lancashire’s Robert Rickwood who defeated Paul Deslandes, however by the midway point of the game Warwickshire were 4-2 up as Ian Shaw added his 4-2 win against Peter Ward.
Warwickshire forged even further ahead in the second half when Peter Hughes won his tie with Darren Hebb, a hard fought victory in which Hebb won the first, Hughes the next three, then Hebb won the following two to take the score to 3-3 and force a decider. With two tons and 137 Hughes went on to win the leg in 18 darts and the game 4-3 as his opponent was left still requiring 106.
The eighth encounter saw Prakash Jiwa after trailing 2-1 and 4-2 to Peter Bradley go on to seal a 4-3 win and take the score to 6-2. Mark Cairney (Lancashire) won the next game against Tom McGlone 4-1 but the win was only a slight delay to what had now become what was going to be an obvious win for the hosts and chalking up that magical seventh win was James Hykin when he beat Lee Taylor 4-0.
The eleventh game was another one that went to the home team as Tom Ryan beat James Marcroft 4-2 and taking the final score to 9-3 to Warwickshire was Carl Green who despite being pulled back to level terms no fewer than three times by Paul Taylor ran out the 4-3 winner giving the ‘B’ team their second win in five games.
After a great couple of games on Saturday the ladies ‘A’ also got Sunday’s fixture off to a brilliant start as Melanie Hill came from two down to Joanne Clements to win 3-2 and making it 2-0 was Wendy Adams who won 3-1 against Sharon Seed.
Ann-Marie Millership momentarily stopped the rot for Lancashire as she chalked up their first win a 3-2 success against Sue Gulliver who had won the first and fourth legs. Lancashire’s first winner but as it turned out their only winner as Kerry Bambridge after leading 1-0 and trailing 2-1 won 3-2 against Sue Cusick, Trina Gulliver recorded her usual lady of the match performance with a 3-0 win over Ally Smith with a superb 23.12 average and rounding off a tremendous 5-1 win was Natalie Gilbert with once again a straight 3-0 result over her opponent Sue Corry. A great result for what was the ‘A’ team’s first win of the season.
With the results from the two ladies and the men’s ‘B’ giving a total of 18-6 to Warwickshire the win was assured and anything the men’s ‘A’ did was a bonus. Unfortunately there was very little bonus as Lancashire stormed into a 4-0 lead, Lee Shewan setting them on their way with an opening 4-1 win over Mark Strong, then former Warwickshire player Mark McGeeney beat Mark Carter 4-0. Third on was David Airey who won 4-3 against Noel Grant after Grant had gone 2-0 up with a 107 checkout in the second leg. David Place made it 4-0 when he defeated Antony Allen, the home player having gone ahead twice in the first and third legs and forced a decider when he won the sixth.
Warwickshire’s first winner came in the shape of Dean Stewart who had a 4-1 win over Carl Sneyd winning his last three legs in 14,14 and 17 darts for an award winning average of 28.63.
Dave Adshead moved the score along to 5-1 by the break beating Bob Nixon 4-1.
As the second half of the match got underway Warwickshire added their second winner, Mark Westgarth winning 4-1 against Chris O’Connor who had won the first leg.
Martin Barratt gave Lancashire an unbeatable 6-2 lead with his 4-1 win against Tom Aldridge, however Richard Foster kept the home side still in with the chance of a draw when he came from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 down against Ben Fairley to win 4-3.
Sadly Foster’s win turned out to be Warwickshire’s last as Martin Atkins beat William Naylor 4-1, Mick Oversby won 4-3 against Ted Evetts who at one stage had a 2-1 lead and to end the weekend there was a rare defeat for Jamie Hughes as he lost 4-1 to Andy Johnson to give Lancashire a 9-3 victory.
The three wins out of the four games were enough to give Warwickshire a 21-15 overall win, maintain their fourth place in the table and 99 points, they are still seventeen points behind third placed Essex but do have to play them in the penultimate game of the season.
Full Results:(Warwickshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Mark Strong 1 Lee Shewan 4, Mark Carter 0 Mark McGeeney 4, Noel Grant 3 David Airey 4, Antonu Allen 3 David Place 4, Dean Stewart 4 Carl Sneyd 1, Bob Nixon 1 Dave Adshead 4, Mark Westgarth 4 Chris O’Connor 1, Tom Aldridge 1 Martin Barratt 4, Richard Foster 4 Ben Fairley 3, William Naylor 1 Martin Atkins 4, Ted Evetts 3 Mick Oversby 4, Jamie Hughes 1 Andy Johnson 4, Men’s ’B’:- Luke Kennedy 4 Dave Bennett 2, Tom Martin 0 Chris O’Connor 4, Simon Power 4 Dave Rawstron 1, Rob Hawker 4 Brian Darbyshire 0, Paul Deslandes 0 Robert Rickwood 4, Ian Shaw 4 Peter Ward 2, Peter Hughes 4 Darren Hebb3, Prakash Jiwa 4 Peter Bradley 3, Tom McGlone 1 Mark Cairney 4, James Hykin 4 Lee Taylor 0, Tom Ryan 4 James Marcroft 2, Carl Green 4 Paul Taylor 3, Women’s ’A’:- Melanie Hill 3 Joanne Clements 2, Wendy Adams 3 Sharon Seed 1, Sue Gulliver 2 Anne-Marie Millership 3, Kerry Bambridge 3 Sue Cusick 2, Trina Gulliver 3 Ally Smith 0, Natalie Gilbert 3 Sue Corry 0, Women’s ’B’:- Nina Bolt 3 Amy Eden 0, Donna Pinch 3 Maria Ronson 2, Denise Keyte 0 Trish Hughes 3, Lisa Deskandes 0 Sharon Seed 3, Marion Conway 3 Tracey Cunningham 1, Angela Jones 3 Anne-Marie Swindells 0.